


Don't Lie To Me Again

by bucky77



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Emotional, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:40:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21929113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bucky77/pseuds/bucky77
Summary: After it nearly gets her killed, Rose confronts the Doctor about his mysterious past.
Kudos: 17





	Don't Lie To Me Again

The Doctor was positioned in the same place he always was when Rose was sleeping: underneath the TARDIS console with a box of tools and his sonic screwdriver, tinkering. Rose had turned in several hours earlier than usual, but that was only to be expected. They’d had potentially the worst day they’d had in weeks, and it was all his fault. 

The Doctor despised nothing more than opening up to another person, even if that person was Rose. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be honest with her, because of course he did, it was that he felt incredibly awkward talking about himself and his past. Rose didn’t even know the name of his home planet. Until today.

The Doctor sighed and dropped his hammer, rubbing his hands over his face in frustration. He couldn’t pay attention to whatever it was he was trying to accomplish, not while the events of the day kept replaying over and over in his head. They had been on 21st century Earth, and the UNIT Commander had called him in to help with an alien artefact that they thought he might be interested in. He never, never, usually answered calls like this (which he got all the time), but Rose had overheard them and convinced him to go.

When they landed, they were taken to an archive under the UNIT headquarters and ushered through endless corridors until they reached a poorly lit, and highly guarded, room. At that point, the Doctor had been expected to walk through the doors and see a weapon or a bomb of some sort. That’s why, when he saw the tiny red and gold statue sitting on the table in the centre of the room, he was thrown entirely off guard. He stopped in his tracks as though he’d hit a brick wall, causing Rose to run into him from behind. He could hear her asking what it was, but couldn’t begin to formulate an answer. Of course he knew, but how could he possibly explain it to her?

He vaguely remembered asking, or rather demanding to know, where they had got the statue, but didn’t remember their answer. He told them he had to get it out of there, because human’s couldn’t have it, because it was dangerous, anything he could think of to get them to listen. They didn’t, of course, and they all knew what happened next. They had studied him extensively for years, and they knew that he got what he wanted no matter what, so they took preventative measures. 

20 armed guards surrounded the Doctor and Rose in seconds, forcing them to their knees and handcuffing them roughly. They were dragged helplessly back through the UNIT tunnels and thrown into a tiny cell, no bigger than a janitor’s closet. From his reaction, they knew the Doctor recognised the object, and they were determined to find out what it was. They knew how stubborn he could be and they knew his weak spot: Rose.

He shuddered at the thought of them threatening her while he insisted he could work with them if they just let them go. Finally, he had broken. He had told them the object was a statue from Gallifrey in an attempt to get them to back off, but this seemed to have the opposite effect. They couldn’t understand why he would have been so hesitant to tell them it was a statue, so they didn’t believe him. They didn’t understand why he flinched at the mere mention of the place. They didn’t understand this wasn’t the way Rose was supposed to find out. It was only when a huge guard had forced Rose to her knees and pointed his gun at her head execution style that he crumbled and told them. He told them he was from Gallifrey, he told them there was a war, and he told them Gallifrey was lost. He tried to explain that this tiny statue, apart from himself and his TARDIS, may have been the only thing to escape the devastation. Eventually, they let him and Rose go, deciding that making him leave without the statue that he was apparently so connected to was punishment enough. Punishment for what, he didn’t know.

The Doctor was so consumed in his stress that he didn’t hear Rose walk below the console and take a seat in front of him. He jumped when he raised his head again and saw her, the hammer falling to the ground with a clatter.

“Fuck, Rose, you scared the shit outta me,” he tried to joke, but the sadness in her eyes told him he wasn’t getting out of a conversation he didn’t want to have. Not right now.

“Why have you never mentioned Gallifrey before?” She asked him, cutting to the chase. 

“I don’t like thinking about it,” he told her honestly. He decided to leave out the fact that he had spent every waking moment since the war trying desperately to force the screaming from his head, and she was the only distraction he had.

“You mentioned a war…” she prompted him to talk. The Doctor deliberately gave her the briefest answer possible, pretending to tinker with the console again to distract from the awkwardness he was already feeling.

“Yes.” Rose sighed, frustrated.

“Care to elaborate?” The Doctor swallowed and took a deep breath before answering.

“It was the Time War, the biggest war ever fought between my people and the Daleks. It only ended when the planet was destroyed, wiping out all my people and the Daleks together,” he said, as honestly as he could without telling her the part he played in the end.

“Is that all you’re gonna say?” She asked after a moment of silence. The Doctor didn’t miss the irritation in her voice and felt a guilt settle in the pit of his stomach for being the one who made her feel that way. He only realised he hadn’t answered her when she spoke again. “The least you could do is look at me.”

The Doctor slowly put down the hammer and dropped the wires he was currently in the process of detaching and reattaching. He sat up as straight as he could manage and tried his best to maintain eye contact with her.

“I’m sorry about today. I shouldn’t have overreacted, I know it put us in danger,” he apologised, trying his absolute hardest to convey at least part of the intense guilt and overwhelming shame he was feeling. He was confused, however, when she furrowed her eyebrows and gave him a funny look.

“Is that why you think I’m upset?” She asked him.

“Well, yes…” he replied, earning him a disbelieving scoff from Rose.

“I don’t care that you got us into trouble, you do that all the time, it’s what I signed up for. I care that I had to find out something so important about you at gunpoint,” she explained. “Were you ever gonna tell me?” The Doctor stopped himself from letting out an immediate ‘of course I was gonna tell you’. Honesty, he wanted to give her honesty.

“I don’t know. And it’s nothing to do with you, I just really, really don’t like thinking about it,” he settled on an answer he hoped would be good enough. She nodded, telling him it was.

“Is there anything else I should know?” She asked finally. This caught him off guard. I blew up my own planet and the billions of people that lived there. She should know that, he knew she should. But as he thought about saying it a panic he could barely contain rose up in his chest. He felt his hands start to shake and had to ball them into fists to keep them steady.

“No,” he told her.

“Don’t lie to me again,” she said, her voice a perfect mixture of the disappointment and anger she must have been feeling after noticing the obvious pause before his answer. The Doctor couldn’t hold her gaze, and dropped his head to look at the ground, feeling ashamed of his own cowardice. He should just tell her. But she’d never understand, and he wasn’t ready to lose her just yet.

“I can’t-“ he paused and cleared his throat as his voice cracked pathetically. “I’m just not ready to tell you yet.”

“Okay,” Rose said, understanding. She got to her feet and held her hands out for him to take, pulling him up in front of her. Finally, he looked into her eyes again, and when he did she gave him a friendly smile. Suddenly, she pulled him in for a hug, wrapping her arms firmly around his shoulders. The affection surprised him and he hesitated for a second before wrapping his own arms around her waist, burying his head in the crook of her neck. After what felt simultaneously like an eternity and not enough time at all, she pulled back.

“I’m always, always, here for you, okay?” She stared at him intently until he nodded his understanding. Then, shooting another smile his way, she walked away, leaving him totally disoriented. She disappeared up the stairs and he collapsed back into his chair. What did he ever do to deserve her?

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and constructive criticism always appreciated! I don't own these characters and mean no offence by any deviations to the actual plot (don't come for me).
> 
> As always let me know if you're interested in a part two!


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